


Eloquence

by DameRuth



Series: Bliss [21]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Multi, New Year's Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24579613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DameRuth/pseuds/DameRuth
Summary: Happy 2008, from the Bliss!verse!  Shameless fluff (like that's a surprise?)[Continuing the Teaspoon imports, originally posted 2008.01.01.]
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Jack Harkness/Rose Tyler
Series: Bliss [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/14078
Kudos: 15





	Eloquence

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like a bit of holiday fluff, to ring in the New Year. Best wishes to everyone, and delightful new adventures to all!
> 
> * * *

“Five,” said the Doctor, counting down the seconds with grave precision. “Four. Three. Two . . . _One_!”  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
Rose and Jack began to whoop with laughter, their breaths puffing out in great clouds of steam. Their voices would have echoed through the silence except for the thick layer of white snow that lay everywhere, which muffled sounds and made the wide-open field seem oddly private.  
  
“You’re running fast, Doc,” Jack said, after catching his breath.  
  
“No, I’m not,” the Doctor replied huffily. He gestured across the ice-rimmed river towards the city that began on the far bank — a glittering confection of fairytale lights against the stark black-and-white of the winter night. “ _They’re_ running slow.”  
  
Very faintly, across the water, even with the snow, they could hear the sounds of revelry as the city’s inhabitants geared up to celebrate the new year with what the Doctor had promised would be the most spectacular single fireworks display for centuries in this sector of the Milky Way. They were standing in a field on the far side of the river partly because the Doctor declared it to be the best view available, and partly to avoid running into himself, since he’d visited this night three times already.  
  
Rose had been a little nervous about the prospects of a temporal paradox, but the Doctor assured her he knew what he was doing and he remembered exactly where he was right now — all three . . . no, counting the current version, all _four_ of him.  
  
Time travel was enough to give her a headache sometimes — but if Jack and the Doctor weren’t going to be worried, than neither was she.  
  
“Well, anyway,” Rose began, and was cut off by a sudden crescendo of cheering from across the river. The clear, starry-black sky overhead suddenly bloomed with a single skyrocket puffball of stunning size; it seemed to cover half the visible horizon with one gigantic golden chrysanthemum. It was followed by the biggest _BANG!_ she’d ever heard in her life (which was saying something, given the Doctor’s penchant for being in the vicinity of explosions).  
  
It was followed by a similarly-sized explosion of silver, then one in red. Rose yelled in delight, her voice completely lost against the sound of explosions, and hugged the Doctor’s arm to her side. After a minute or two, it became clear that the fireworks weren’t dissipating as Rose would have expected — the individual sparks kept burning, and were starting to move, coalescing into patterns. Whole new constellations took shape, providing an ever-changing backdrop for a fusillade of new explosions, large and small, in a rainbow of colors, until the entire sky was one magnificent, glowing piece of abstract pointillist artwork.  
  
The final pattern formed, held its intricate beauty perfectly still for the length of a single breath — and then every spark winked out, leaving the sky empty.  
  
Rose and Jack yelled and applauded, hugging each other, echoing the faint roar audible across the water. The Doctor’s voice rose and cut across them with good-natured derision. “ _Wait_ for it — there’s still the finale to come!”  
  
The two humans stilled, and Rose couldn’t help wondering what extravagance could possibly top that amazing Technicolor display. She could sense Jack’s wonder and curiosity next to her, and the Doctor’s anticipation . . .  
  
Then the answer: a single, brilliant silver star that flared in total silence, exquisite and perfect.  
  
Rose breathed out a long, “Oooooooooh,” of understanding.  
  
The star faded, and even the city across the water was completely still . . . until a new roar of celebration started up again twice as loud as before.  
  
“Wow,” Jack said, conversationally.  
  
“That was lovely,” Rose said, with a happy sigh. “What a way to show the start of something new — everything going forward from that one point, that one moment.”  
  
“But if you think about it,” the Doctor said, and his voice was low and rough and warm, his Northern accent very pronounced, sending a shiver through Rose that had nothing to do with the cold, “ _every_ moment’s like that. Somewhere, every second, it’s a new year; each heartbeat is a new beginning. Why should any particular second be special — or more special — than the others? The whole of Time’s like that star, repeated over and over . . .” He trailed off, staring up at the stars that were visible again in the clear night sky.  
  
Rose rested her head against the Doctor’s shoulder, her thoughts soaring, absorbing the his words and imagining Time as a collection of perfect, glittering moments. She had the distinct feeling that she couldn’t comprehend it with anything like the clarity he could — after all, he experienced Time directly, in ways a human couldn’t. It was a lovely thought anyway.  
  
“Still, though,” she said, half to herself — and stopped.  
  
“Yes?” the Doctor asked, with a rising inflection that told her his eyebrows were rising, too.  
  
“Well, every moment’s special an’ all, I get that . . . but maybe some moments _can_ be more special. The ones we give extra meaning to. I mean, if every moment was exactly the same, we’d never have . . . that.” She gestured towards the now-empty sky. “If everyone didn’t all get together and say, we’re making this moment something to remember, it wouldn’t happen.” She stopped, not sure how to articulate what she was thinking. “I mean, you can’t have fireworks _every_ second,” she said by way of summary, her inherent practicality coming to the fore.  
  
The Doctor was silent and she looked up at him, biting her lip, afraid he’d be grinning. But he was looking at her with a thoughtful expression that turned into the faintest of smiles when she met his eyes.  
  
On Rose’s other side, Jack sighed. “I feel so shallow,” he said with plaintive irony. “Seems like I should be making some kind of profound speech, too, but I can’t think of a damned thing to say.”  
  
Rose turned to look at him, and grinned. “Well, you can still put your mouth to good use,” she told him.  
  
He looked back at her with an expression of theatrical shock. He opened his mouth to say something, no doubt along the lines of, _Why Rose Tyler, you naughty girl . . .!_ but Rose bumped him with her shoulder and beat him to it.  
  
“You can give us a _kiss_ ,” she said, firmly. “That’s traditional. No words involved.”  
  
“Guess I can,” he agreed with a grin, and reached to cup her cheek, the wool of his thick gloves rough against her skin. She met him halfway, coming up on her toes. His lips felt hot as fire compared to the chill air, while he used his tongue — wordlessly — to very good effect indeed.  
  
When they broke apart, Rose grinned, and licked her lips. “That,” she breathed, “was positively _eloquent_ , Captain Harkness.”  
  
“Why, thank you Miss Tyler,” Jack said, with his trademark cocky smugness. Rose shifted aside so Jack could step past her and engage the Doctor in a long tender-hot kiss that left Rose, watching, considerably warmed as well.  
  
At the end of it, the Doctor swallowed and said, “I’d call it a cogent summation of the issues at hand, yes . . .”  
  
They shifted again, and Rose and the Doctor took their turn. Rose giggled when they were finished. “You know, Jack, I think you’ve had a positively inspirational effect on us. You could hire out for seminars.”  
  
“Great — so long as they’re indoors,” Jack said, shifting from one foot to another. “C’mon, I’m freezing my butt off out here, and we’ve still got the Jacuzzi to christen . . .”  
  
“Speaking of special moments,” Rose added, as they turned to head back to the TARDIS.  
  
“I’d still like to know how you talked the TARDIS into that,” the Doctor said, casually snagging the bottle that had been chilling in a snowbank at the side of the path they’d followed down to the river’s edge. “She never let _me_ set up anything of the sort.”  
  
“What can I say? I’m a persuasive guy,” Jack said with a shrug, burying his hands in the pockets of his officer’s greatcoat.  
  
“Positively eloquent,” Rose deadpanned.  
  
“That, too,” Jack agreed with wink in her direction.  
  


* * *

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  
This story archived at <http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=18066>


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